DCMS chief has “rowed in” behind reformist white paper proposals, says Iain Duncan Smith
Former Conservative Party leader and vocal reformist hints government has engaged with proposals
Sir Iain Duncan Smith has revealed Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Secretary of State Lucy Frazer has “rowed in” behind a series of reformist recommendations for the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review.
The former Conservative Party leader made the revelation speaking on the World at One programme on BBC Radio 4 as part of the fallout following the record regulatory settlement paid by William Hill to the UKGC.
Hills agreed to pay £19.2m after the regulator found serious historical failings in the operator’s social responsibility and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures.
Touching on the record regulatory settlement, the MP for Chingford and Woodford Green said it heightened the need for the white paper to come to the fore to provide the UKGC with the adequate tools.
He said: “The fine is a good idea, and I am pleased, but it does beg the question why we need the white paper desperately now because that has in it much stronger powers for the Commission [and] it’ll have in it a statutory levy, I hope.
“Affordability checks through banks will be critical to this and hopefully they will be in the white paper so people will be nudged when they are heading in one direction of expenditure way beyond their means. This needs to be in place,” he added.
Smith went on to argue that the much-delayed document had been a combination of turmoil in Whitehall since the review’s launch and the Conservative Party having reservations around heavily regulating the industry.
Smith then hinted that Frazer had seemingly indicated her support for the proposals put forward by reformist MPs and lobbyists.
He continued: “I think the government was uneasy about greater regulation. They weren’t keen on regulating the companies more than they had to.
“We made the case; bit by bit that has changed. That’s what’s delayed the first element of it. Secondly, it was what would go into the white paper and there have been debates and arguments, I think in government, about were they going too far.
“I think those have ended now. My information is that the present Secretary of State has rowed in behind what we’re asking for.
“We are hearing strong messages that all these things that I’ve talked about – the statutory levy, the affordability checks, hopefully the banning of VIP rooms, all of these things and the powers to the Commission and the determination for the Commission to use them, I hope will be in the white paper, in which case then we are at last on our way to getting a better regulated – not overregulated – gambling industry,” he added.
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